When the Mets decided they could compete next year and that’s why weren’t trading Jacob deGrom or Zack Wheeler, they promptly went out and lost 25-4 to the Washington Nationals.

The likelihood of the Mets signing Jacob deGrom to a team-friendly deal after the season he’s having is the longest of long shots. The chances of the Mets getting Zack Wheeler locked up is 50-50. I think the Mets will lock up Noah Syndergaard, there’s nothing in the pre and post-Alderson era to back up my gut feeling, I know that.

I’ve watched too many games to count. I didn’t watch yesterday. They were losing so bad out of the gate that I decided to give myself a mental health day. Don’t worry, I got plenty of texts and social media messages, friends made sure I knew what was going on.

Can the Mets contend next season? Sure, if we use the lens of anything is possible. The likelihood they’ll contend is bleak since the Braves and Phillies are better than they’ve been the past few seasons. The Mets haven’t kept up with the other teams. The Nationals will still be better than the Mets even though they’re currently trending downward.

This season was lost. We all knew that. The puzzling part was picking up Austin Jackson and playing him right away. The Mets made some trades and picked up some players who are already performing well in the minors. Why aren’t they playing? Is the goal of the Mets to just collect minor league depth and play washed up veterans like Jose Reyes?

There was a time when it was fun to see a positional player pitch. It’s no longer fun for Mets fans. It was sad to see. The fanbase is beaten down and seeing the highlights of Reyes laying them over the plate will last a long time.

This offseason was a boom or bust mentality. The Mets invested in older talent and every one of those players was a bust as far as this season goes. Jay Bruce and Todd Frazier can only help the Mets when they’re playing consistently, and they weren’t able to do that.

The Yoenis Cespedes heel situation is something fans and many members of the media didn’t seem to know about. In retrospect, it seems like that contract was a big mistake. I certainly would take back the positive things I said about it knowing what we all know now.

The Mets stars will start fading away like the heroes in Infinity Wars. The Mets hope fans will still show up to watch their stud pitchers pitch and hope they can deal with losing close games or games where their team just can’t hit. Pat Roessler, should still be fired. The Mets are 28th in the league with runners in scoring position. 28th overall. For all the talk about having a power-hitting lineup, they’re still ranked ninth in homers per at-bat. Hitting has been a complete failure for this team. It’s more than the players, it’s the strategy, the situational hitting, and lack of being able to produce runs.

Next season is a hope and a prayer. Like most seasons but right now hope just slipped out the back door.